Reach for the stars

After a failed launch and 2 months stuck in orbit, the Russian Mars probe Fobos-Grunt finally fell and burned up in the atmosphere last night.

However, this article isn’t about Fobos-Grunt’s failure.

Sure, the Russians spent 12 years and US$165 mission on the mission (a drop in the ocean compared to humanity’s other recent screw ups). But while the media is busy calling it a disaster, we’d like to focus on the good it represents.

After all, aren’t new horizons always reached through trial and error? Isn’t expanding our knowledge a noble cause? Shouldn’t we always aim higher?

So to stargazers, dreamers and people everywhere with their heads in the clouds, we salute you. Try harder, fail bigger.

(Just be careful not to drop stuff on our heads.)